We got back from our summer holiday in Crete at three last night. For some reason, the only flight from hiraklion to Manchester is always at the dead of night, which is foolish because then you have to waste much of the next day recovering. This morning, I must say I feel worse than I did when we got back from Sydney, but part of this feeling is worry about going back to uni on Monday. It’s scary.

Anyway, Crete: I must say it didn’t strike me as very beautiful. There’s no running water on the island in terms of rivers and streams – not in these summer months so the mountains are rather dry. We had many drives up into the hills; ordinarily, this would have fascinated me, but wherever we went, there seemed to be a lack of colour and beauty.

Don’t get me wrong: there are certainly beautiful places on the island. I saw a few of the most stunning sunsets I or anyone would ever hope to witness while there. My brother Luke, it seems, is a good amateur photographer, and he took some jaw-dropping shots from the pier of our hotel. I was reminded of Basil Pao’s work when I saw them. With a bit of luck he’ll let me post some on facebook.

My archaeological side got sated too. I got to romp around some magnificent ruins this holiday. Mind you I must say that the famous palace at Knossos has been rather ruined (forgive the pun) – it is now too much of a tourist attraction, where one can be lead by a tour guide who clearly knows nothing of history, around re-built structures based on conjecture. It was tourism, not history. Far more impressive were the ruins in the south of the island [matt forgets name] where one can see an actual ancient law court with an inscription of all the ancient Greek laws on the rear wall. It was almost like looking at the birth of democracy, or perhaps it’s grandparents.

As with our trip to Australia, there isn’t time to tell you everything that happened in one blog entry. I should say though that Crete isn’t the best place for wheelchair users; in fact, its pretty bad. Oh yeah, and people there all drive like lunatics. Other than that, we all had a pretty good time I think. High point: getting dad listening to cat empire (although he says the lead singer sounds like a ‘south London wideboy’). Low point: not seeing any minotaurs. All that remains now is to catch up on my correspondence and hope this crick in the neck wears off soon.